It's About Time!

So I finally decided that it's time. Time to start blogging again, time to stop regretting the years I have failed to document, time to start living in the moment, time to turn over a new leaf and start again. The time is NOW!

So I am starting today with an update on my cute little family. It's time to catch up on the Stevens family happenings!

Ethan

Ethan is 9 years old and in the 3rd grade. He is playing soccer for the first time this season. I think he enjoys everything about it except that he has to give up his Saturdays for games. He enjoys hanging out at home playing on the computer or his DS. He also loves building with his Lego's and has found a new interest in origami. Just yesterday he made an origami Yoda mask for himself! He is in his 3rd year of piano lessons and doing great! I can't believe how good he is getting! He is super creative and too smart for his own good!

Emily

Emily is 7 now and in the 1st grade. She is our little social butterfly. She has lots of friends and loves to play! She is taking ballet for the 3rd year and loves it! She just preformed in our ward talent show. She loves being on stage! Just before she went on stage at the talent show someone asked her if she was nervous. She had the biggest grin on her face and said "Nope!" She is also playing soccer and taking piano lessons. She loves every minute of every activity she is in. She is the best big sister, always looking out for Emery and making sure that Eliza is well taken care of. I often have to remind her that I am the mom!

Emery

Emery is 4 and boy is he a crazy one! He is not the biggest fan of preschool but insists that he is more than ready to be a big kindergartner in the fall. He is playing baseball for the second season and loves it most days. The other days he isn't a big fan and just wants to stay home. Last season he cried through half the games! Knock on wood because we have been tear free so far this season! Emery is always saying or doing something silly, he is definitely our comic relief!

Eliza

Eliza is 18 months now and full of attitude! She is spoiled rotten by her brothers and sisters. She knows that if she screams loud enough they will give her what ever she wants. She is into everything and always on the go. She loves pushing her babies around in the stroller and taking care of them. Her vocabulary is growing quickly! She says mom, dad, hi, bye, all gone, night night, get out, sit and probably many more that I can't think of right now. We are on the go a lot but she is such a trooper and just goes with the flow!

Eric and I are busy busy! Eric can always be found with the me and the kiddos during his spare time. Between helping coach Emery's baseball team, building pinewood derby cars for everyone, cheering on the sidelines at soccer games we keep him going!

Life is crazy with 4 kids but we wouldn't have it any other way! I feel like before I know it the kids will all be grown and gone. They grow up way too fast. I hope that amongst all the running around and craziness I can remember to cherish every moment that we have together.

Emery Turned 3!!

I can't believe that he is already 3! It seems like he should still be my baby. But he is growing so fast and such a big boy.

For his birthday this year we just did a small family get together. He requested a Buzz cake that I think turned out pretty darn cute! He absolutely loved it!

He also got a lot of fun presents! He especially loved his Sheriff Woody costume from his cousins. He couldn't wait to put it on!

It was a really fun day and it was good to see that he didn't cry this year when everyone sang to him. I love my little Emery and can't imagine how boring life would be without him! Here are a few of the fun things about my little man.

-he hates to have his pants pulled up high. Every time he gets dressed he reminds you that he doesn't like to wear his pants "like a daddy" and he quickly pulls them down low onto his waist. We're not sure where he came up with the idea that daddy's wear their pants hiked up, but it is pretty funny to hear him say!

-everything is chick-a in his world. So the majority of the time I am chick-a mommy, or Eric is chick-a daddy. He also thinks it is hilarious to call everything (people included) chicken booty. Don't you just love the things they learn from older siblings?

-He loves to be tickled and wrestle with his daddy. He also is the one that won't hug daddy goodbye in the mornings but the minute dad walks in the door he is the one that comes running.

He is definitely our little ham, he loves to make us laugh and he of course loves to be the center of attention. He is spoiled rotten by Ethan and Emily, (especially Emily) who will pretty much do whatever he asks. I am afraid he is going to be traumatized when this new baby comes, and he is no longer the baby. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to her.

So even though this post is almost two months late, Happy Birthday Emery!

The First Day of School

Yes, folks I am slowly catching up. These posts are all really late, but at least they are coming.

August 23 was the first day of school here. I had one really excited kindergartner, one second grader who kept saying he wasn't excited, but couldn't wipe the smile off his face, and one preschooler who didn't start school until the next day so he was sad to see his brother and sister go to school without him. He had his lunch box and backpack all ready to go.

I could not get Emery to show his face. All he wanted to to do was have a picture taken of the lunch box.

Outside the school. If you look closely you can see Ethan doing bunny ears on Emily. I didn't notice that until it was too late to take a new one. He is the typical big brother.

Emily at her locker.

Emily at her desk

Ethan, the big second grader

While the kids were at school some moms got together and made these cute little bus cakes. It turned out great and the kids loved it! It is always good to have a fun treat after school.

On Tuesday (August 24) Emery started preschool. It was bitter sweet for me. I love that I have two days a week where all of them are in school. It is great for running errands and getting things done and will be really nice when I have a new baby. But at the same time he just seems so little. He is my baby (for now anyways). He was so excited though and he loves it so that makes it a little easier.

He is at the age where he is not really into pictures so these are the best I was able to get. It also didn't help that he just wanted to go to school, not have his picture taken.

The other fun part about preschool for Emery is that he gets to go with his friend Charlotte. They are the cutest. She calls him Mimi and he always refers to her as "my Charlotte". I think they love being able to go to school together. Here they are on their first day at school!

So far the school year is going great. They all love it, even Ethan, although he won't admit it. I am definitely enjoying a little bit of me time on Tues. and Thurs. before the baby comes. We are on the countdown now for her arrival, only about 1 month left. I think the kids are excited and I am a little nervous about keeping up with life when I have 3 busy older kids and a newborn. It should be exciting.

10 Years!

This summer (August) we celebrated our 10 year anniversary! It is hard to believe that it really has been 10 years, in some ways I feels like these were just taken yesterday:


Then I look in the mirror and realize 10 years have passed. It has been a great 10 years and I know I couldn't ask for a better person to have shared it with. We have been blessed with so much, the most important being our 3, almost 4, cute kids! I am definitely one lucky lady! After some debate we decided that it would be fun to take a long weekend and go somewhere without the kiddos. Many thanks to family for watching the kids so Eric and I could hit the beach in Cabo San Lucas Mexico! It was fabulous! Our room was so nice and had an awesome view, the food and restaurants were amazing and of course just being there with Eric was the best! We took a nap every day, lounged at the pool and on the beach, went snorkeling, and just enjoyed having no schedule. One of the mornings Eric went and did a zip line thing and I was lucky enough to spend a few hours at the spa getting a facial, mani and pedi.

The view from our balcony

My cute hubby on the beach

Our goofy beach hats!!

It was a much needed and super fun vacation! I can't wait until the day I can do it again. Thanks Eric, for the 10 great years and an unforgettable trip!

Catching Up!

Okay so here I go trying to catch up a little bit. I wish I had an excuse for not staying caught up but I really don't. Just laziness I guess.

So I guess I will start clear back in July with Emery's swim lessons. It was kind of a last minute decision but I decided to stick Emery in swim lesson this year. He was so afraid of the water so really my only goal was to get him more comfortable. I wasn't sure how he would react, but I should have known that Mrs. Carol would work her magic and he would be fine! He still asks if he can go swim with her.

At the end of each lesson she gave them a cookie. I think that was Emery's favorite part!

Swimming through the hoop

Getting the ring from the bottom

Swimming to the steps

Our goal was definitely accomplished. He isn't nearly as afraid of the water. He did learn to swim a little, but mostly he would just kind of float there because he couldn't get down the concept of kicking while his face was in the water. I think next year when he is a little older he will get it and be swimming like a fish!

Because I like to torture myself and be super busy, I had Ethan and Emily signed up for gymnastics camp the same week Emery had swim lessons. Luckily the times worked so we could do swim lessons and then go straight to gymnastics. The kids had so much fun and they even let Emery get out there and do a few things.

Getting their medals

Emery on the bars

At the end they did a little show and they let Emery take a turn. It was way too cute to not share! (hopefully it works)

Swim Lessons

This year we decided to do swim lessons before school got out so the kids were ready to go for the summer. The kids did so good this year! In the past we have done a group lesson which is 30 minutes with a total of 6 kids. This year we decided to do a semi-private lesson with the 2 girls across the street so we got 30 minutes with only 4 kids. You could definitely see the difference in progress with 2 less kids. There are a lot of pictures in this post because I just couldn't leave any out.

Waiting for their turn

Goofing around on the "secret seat" at the deep end

The whole group on the "secret seat"

Jumping in like a pencil

I love how excited and happy she is to be jumping in

Taking a big breath half way across

She made it, with a big smile of course

Ethan going across all by himself

Swimming on their backs

Swimming with "big arms"

I love the confidence they have gained in the water. Yesterday at the pool Emily got a little too far out and couldn't reach the ground. Her initial reaction was to panic, but I calmly reminded her the she could swim so she put her face in the water, started kicking and made it back to the steps all by herself! She was a little scared when she reached the steps but I was so proud of her! I can't wait to see her and Ethan both get better and better as the summer goes on.